Disc opener suspension



July 31, 1956 M. c. CHRISTENSEN 2,756,662

DISC OPENER SUSPENSION Filed March 15, 1954 ATTORNEYS United StatesPatent Otfice DISC OPENER SUSPENSION Max C. Christensen, Royal Oak,Mich., assignor to Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, Mich., a corporation ofDelaware Application March 15, 1954, Serial No. 416,220

'2 Claims. (Cl. 97-245) This invention relates to agricultural plantingequipment and in a more specific aspect relates to grain drillsutilizing disc-type openers.

In a further aspect this invention relates to an improved disc openersuspension for grain drills.

Discs have been used on grain drills for many years to open a smallfurrow into which seed such as wheat, rye, oats and others are droppedfor planting. In the past each disc opener has been mounted on an arm,freely, pivotally attached at one end to the drill frame. A liftingmechanism was connected to the mounting arm and includes a lost motionlinkage and a compression spring associated with said lifting mechanismwhich serves to force the disc into the ground to form theaforementioned furrow, once the disc was lowered to a ground-engaging,operating position by means of the lifting mechanism. It is a well knownfact that prior grain drill opener suspensions and lifting mechanisms Iwere composed of a great multiplicity of parts including springs, pins,keys, spring retainers, yokes, etc. These many parts contributedcomplexity and concomitant high manufacturing and assembly costs toprior drills. It is a further well-known fact that positive control ofthe operating depth of prior openers has not been effective, especiallyunder hard ground conditions. Penetration under such conditions hasgenerally been poor. It is obviously desirably to have the disc openersof grain drills adapted to positive depth control under varying soilconditions. It is also obviously desirable to have the openers and theirsuspension assemblies composed of a minimum of operating parts toprovide greater economy in the manufacture of grain drills.

Accordingly it is an important object of the present invention toprovide a simplified and more durable disc opener suspension.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improveddisc opener lift, which serves the dual function of both moving the discopeners between operative and inoperative positions, and also serves tobias the discs into the ground in a uniform and positively controlledmanner.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a discopener support which maintains its disc in positive vertical alignment.

The specific nature of this invention, as well as other objects andadvantages thereof, will become apparent to those skilled in the artfrom the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with theattached sheet of drawings on which, by way of preferred example only,is illustrated one embodiment of this invention.

On the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side view of a grain drill embodying the presentinvention.

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary portion of Figure 1, showing thepresent opener suspension in detail.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the pivotal mountings whereby the presentopener suspensions are connected to the frame of the grain drill shownin Figures 1 and 2.

Figure 4 is a section view taken along the plane 4-4 of Figure 2.

As shown on the drawings:

Numeral 10 refers generally to a grain drill which includes a generallyrectangular main frame 11. Frame 1.1 is horizontally disposed, and hasits long dimension positioned transversely of the direction of travel ofthe drill 1t Drill 10 is supported for transport over the ground bymeans of a pair of wheels 12, located at each end of frame 11, andattached to the frame by means of suitable bearing and bracketstructures (not shown). A tongue 112 extends forwardly from the frame 11and is provided at its forward end with a hitch 11f for connection to atraction unit. Drill 10 includes a hopper 13, which is a generallyelongated, V-shaped container fabricated of sheet metal or othersuitable material and is supported upon the top side of frame 11. Thebottom of hopper 13 is provided with a series of openings, which areconnected by means of grain delivery tubes 14, Figure 2, to conduct theseed, delivered from the hopper 13 in metered amounts by a conventionalfeeding mechanism (not shown) to planter boots 15 for deposit in thesoil.

As shown in Figure 2, an important part of the grain drill 10 comprisesa disc opener 16, which serves to open a small furrow in the earth, intowhich grain is dropped by means of the aforementioned hopper, meteringmechanism, grain delivery tubes 14 and planter boots 15. An opener 16 isprovided for each row of grain.

The disc opener suspension of the present invention is represented byreference numeral 17 and includes a rigid arm 18, which is provided atits free end with a bearing 19, adapted to rotatably support the disc16. Disc 16 is canted slightly from a line parallel to the direction oftravel of the planter 16 to open a small furrow during its forwardtravel. As best shown in Figure 3, the forward end of arm 18 is providedwith a generally U-shaped bracket 28 fastened thereto by bolts or rivets19a. Arm 18 is joined to the center of the bight portion of bracket 28.The frame 11 of drill 10 is provided with a laterally extending anglebar 11a which is provided with laterally spaced pairs of lugs 11b,welded thereto to extend rearwardly in parallel horizontal relationship.Lugs 1117 are provided with aligned apertures 11c and the arm portionsof each of the brackets 28 are also provided with aligned apertureswhich are alignable with the apertures 11c of lugs 11b so that pins 20can be passed through said lugs and said brackets to secure the same inassembled, operative relationship. It will thus be seen that arm 18 ispivotally secured to the frame 11 and by virtue of the bracket 28 isbraced against lateral movement relative to said frame 11 of drill 16 Aplurality of opener units 17 are spaced across the front of frame 11,corresponding to the row spacing and number of rows of seed to beplanted by the machine. Opener units 17 extend rearwardly from framemember 11a in parallel relationship.

As shown in Figures 2 and 3, frame 11 of drill 10 is also provided atits forward end with a rotatable tubular member 21, journaled betweenthe side members 11d of frame 11. At laterally spaced positions alongthe tube 21, actuating or operating arms 22 are fastened at their oneends by bolts 23, disposed in transverse apertures 21a, provided in tube21. Tubular member 21 is on an axis parallel to pins 20 and theirrespective axes are substantially in the same horizontal plane. Arms 22,at their captive ends, curve around tube 21 and their free straight endsextend rearwardly therefrom in parallel relationship, each arm 22 beingdisposed in depending parallel relationship with respect to theaforementioned disc opener support arms 18. Yoke members 24 connect therear ends of arms 22 with medial portions of arms 18. Each yoke 24,Figure 4, comprises a loop-like element Patented July 31, 1956' havingverticalportions 24a adapted to embrace a vertical medial portion of anarm 18, and a horizontally disposed portion 24b into which the free endof arm 22 can be slidably inserted. The yoke members 24 are fastened tothe medial, vertical portions of arms 18 bymeans of bolts 24c.

Tube 21 is adapted to be rotated by meansof a hydraulic cylinder 25.Tube 21 is provided with a pair of laterally spaced upstanding arms 26which are provided near their upper ends with horizontally alignedapertures 26a. The end of piston rod 25:: of cylinder 25 apertured andadapted to fit between the arms 26 and is held in pivotal relationtherewith by means of a pin 26b passed through the respective holes inthe three elements. Two lugs 27 are welded in laterally spaced relationto a frame cross member 112. These lugs are in longitudinal alignmentwith arms 26 and are adapted to pivotally connect cylinder 25 to framemember He by means of a pin as described for the connection of the freeend of the piston rod 25a to the arms 26. Cylinder 225 is provided withconduits 25b, for connection to a suitable source of pressured hydraulicfluid such as the tractors hydraulic system. By providing controlswithin the reach of the tractor operator, the cylinder 25 can becontrolled as desired.

When tube 21 is rotated by hydraulic cylinder 25 and crank arms 26, thearms 22 will be moved in a vertical plane. By means of the connectingyokes 24, vertical movement will also be imparted to the disc openersupport arms 18 and thus the discs 16 will be moved in a verical plane.Arms 22 are preferably fabricated of fiat, resilient steel stock, suchas spring steel, so that when the discs 16 are lowered to aground-engaging position, suitable further rotation can be imparted totube 21 to transmit a downward bias through arms 22 to the discs 16. Itwill be appreciated that since arms 22 are resilient, discs 16 arevertically movable independently of each other and may ride over stonesor other foreign matter encountered in the soil to avoid damage. Thearms 22 are of substantial construction and are capable of transmittinga very positive downward pressure on discs 16 under hard groundconditions for increased penetration. This pressure is surely andquickly provided by the tractor operators control of fluid to cylinder25.

It will thus be seen that the present invention provides an unusuallysimple and readily manufacturable grain drill disc opener suspensionmechanism which provides a laterally stable support for the discopeners. By means of a single element the present mechanism lifts andlowers the discs and also biases said discs intothe ground in apositively controllable manner to provide more uniformly planted crops.

It will, of course, be understood that various details of constructionmay be varied through a wide range without departing from the principlesof this invention and it is, therefore, not the purpose to limit thepatent granted hereon otherwise than necessitated by the scope of theappended claims.

I claim:

1. For use with a grain drill having a mobile frame and a transversemember rotatably journaled on said frame, the improvement of apower-operated disc opener suspension, said suspension comprising a discsupport arm having a disc rotatably journaled on one end thereof, alaterally stable bracket journaling the other end of said disc Supportarm to said frame, an operating arm in parallel depending relationshipto said disc support arm rigidly aifixed at its one end to saidrotatable member, and means operatively connecting the other end of saidoperating arm to said disc support arm, a crank arm connected to saidrotatable member and a hydraulic cylinder connected between said crankarm and said frame, whereby actuation of said hydraulic cylinder impartsrotary movement of said rotatable member to move said operating arm andsaid disc support arm and disc in a vertical plane.

2. For use with a grain drill having a mobile frame and a transversemember rotatably journaled on said frame, an improved disc openersuspension, said suspension including a disc support arm, a discrotatably journaled on the freeend of said arm, and a bracket rigidlysecured to the other end of said disc support arm, said bracket having abody portion and a pair of laterally spaced arm portions formedintegrally with said body portion, means rigidly secured to said framejournaling said bracket arm portions to said frame for vertical pivotalmovement on an axis parallel to and in substantially the same horizontalplane as the axis of said transverse member, an actuating arm inparallel depending relationship to said disc support arm, means rigidlyconnecting one end of said actuating arm to said transverse member,means slideably connecting the other end of said actuating arm to amedial portion of said disc support arm, and means for rotating saidtransverse member whereby the actuating arm imparts a pivotal movementto said disc support arm in a vertical direction, and said bracketimparts lateral stability to said disc support arm.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS148,906 VJeusthoff Mar. 24, 1374 495,495 King Apr. 18, 1893 672,916Rowell Apr. 30, 1901 2,637,564 Stratman May 5, 1953

